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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

Combating the worst forms of child labor in the Dominican Republic - Supporting the TimeBound Program for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Dominican Republic

Region/Country

THE AMERICAS/Dominican Republic

Project Duration

September 2002– December 2006

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

Total: USD 4,400,000
FY 2002: USD 3,500,000 (Project of Support to the TBP)
FY 2004: USD 900,000 (Trafficking/Smuggling Amendment)

Problem Addressed

According to data from the 2000 National Survey on Child Labor, there are approximately 428,720 working children in the Dominican Republic between the ages of 5 and 17 years. Their main occupations are sales persons (including street vendors), servants, agricultural workers and shoe-shiners. In addition, the commercial sexual exploitation of minors is a growing problem, particularly in tourist areas. The Dominican Republic is also known to be a major source and destination country for persons trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation. Girls as young as 15 are trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Haitian children are often smuggled illegally along with their families into the Dominican Republic to work as manual laborers, farm laborers and beggars.

Results

The project withdrew 3,189 children and prevented 7,838 children from the worst forms of child labor (WFCL), particularly in informal urban work, commercial sexual exploitation, hazardous commercial agriculture and trafficking/smuggling in border areas and plantations.

Project Objectives

Development Objective:
To contribute to the elimination of the worst forms of child labor in the Dominican Republic.

Immediate Objectives:

  • Raise awareness of society at large and key sectors regarding children’s rights and the negative consequences of the worst forms of child labor;
  • Produce and update information on the situation of children involved in the worst forms of child labor;
  • Ensure coordination and enforcement of programs and policies by key institutions (including local governments and communities); and
  • Withdraw and prevent children from hazardous and exploitive forms of child labor.

Summary of Activities
  • Advocated for the inclusion of indicators regarding child labor in national surveys;
  • Developed a National Plan of Action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor;
  • Produced and disseminated gender-sensitive reports on child labor;
  • Trained journalists, local governments, public officials, NGOs and community groups;
  • Designed and implemented awareness-raising campaigns on child labor and trafficking;
  • Conducted a campaign on child trafficking/smuggling;
  • Created and operated both a national and community-based Child Labor Monitoring System;
  • Created and operated an Information System on the commercial sexual exploitation of children and trafficking;
  • Researched, published and shared information regarding child trafficking;
  • Supported the development of legal changes and an action plan against child trafficking;
  • Trained public and private institutions regarding human trafficking;
  • Enrolled and retained targeted children in school;
  • Provided vocational training for adolescents and their parents; and
  • Developed alternative income producing activities for target families.
Major accomplishments
  • Enhanced national awareness on child labor.
  • Completed National Plan of Action on child labor.
  • Established Child Labor Monitoring System (CLMS).
  • Conducted diagnostic on trafficking of children for CSE.
Grantee International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC)

Implementing partners

 Ministries of Labor, Education, Health, Agriculture, and Sports, Physical Education and Recreation; Organismo Rector; The Child Protection Council (CONANI); The Institute for Vocational Training; Local and Municipal Governments; Workers’ Unions; Employers’ Organizations; Child Protection Councils; The United Nations Children’s Fund; The Pan-American Health Organization; The United Nations Population Fund; The Inter-American Development Bank; The World Bank.

Contact Information

Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT)

(202) 693-4843